Japanese katana sword identification

[romant18]

Hello,
can someone help me identifying this katana ? Thank you and regards Roman

[romant18]

one foto

[edgey]

"KOA ISSHIN MANTETSU SAKU KORE" (LITERALLY " HEART AND SOUL FOR THE FAR EAST" MADE WITH MANCHURIAN STEEL !

"SHOWA (2 ZODIAC SYMBOLS) HARU" ( DATE: SPRING 1941 )

GOOGLE http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/koa.htm
AND IT GIVES A GOOD DESCRIPTION OF THE MANCHURIAN BLADES

THESE ARE DESIRABLE COLLECTOR SWORDS BUT NOT TRADITIONALLY MADE SAMURAI BLADES. THE LEATHER TASSEL IS NORMALLY FOUND ON NCO SWORDS.

[zook]

Nice piece and as stated , though not a traditional blade ... these are highly collectible - Dan

[romant18]

thanks, is very interesting how this katana found here, can someone check the value ?

[GHP]

"SHOWA (2 ZODIAC SYMBOLS) HARU" ( DATE: SPRING 1941 )

辛巳
Kanoto-mi
1941

[Staldion]

Interesting to see it have a NCO tassel instead of an officer one. NCO tassels are rare and desirable. Nice catch.

[BruceP]

Roman,
I have been running a study on Mantetsu blades and would REALLY appreciate a photo of the full serial number on the top edge of the nakago (tang), if I may!!!

There is another good discussion about them on Ohmura's website: http://ohmura-study.net/998.html

I agree with Staldion about the NCO tassel. The gunto is an officer sword, yet the tassel is an NCO tassel. If you want to keep them together, there are some examples of NCO's going through officer candidate school with a mixed sword/tassel arrangment. I honestly cannot remember if it was NCO tassel on officer sword, or the other way around.

If you desire to replace the tassel with an officer one, those NCO tassels sell for approx $375 USD, company grade tassels - $150; field-grade tassels - $400-500; general grade - thousand or more.

And did I ask for a pic of the serial number?!?!?